The present invention discloses a method of adapting a hand propelled, wheeled cart so that two or more carts can be pushed by one person as a unit. The inventors have submitted two U.S. patent applications (now U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,105,980 and 6,199,879) for another invention which also includes a hand propelled, wheeled cart. However, such applications do not specifically pertain to a means by which two or more carts can be pushed by one person.
Sets of teeth that are spaced apart from each other in a sawtooth configuration and project horizontally outwards from the front and rear ends of a hand propelled, wheeled cart.
Hand propelled, carts and dollies (collectively referred to as xe2x80x9ccartsxe2x80x9d) are typically comprised of a low-lying flat platform atop a set of four wheels. Such carts are commonly used to move freight, goods and other objects and materials. Except for the present invention, one person can usually push only one cart at a time because it is too difficult to control the movement of two or more carts.
The present invention allows one person to push, steer and control the movement of two or more carts simultaneously. The invention consists of sets of teeth that are incorporated into the front and rear ends of a cart. The teeth would typically be made of a strong, hard material, such as metal, plastic, wood or rubber, and can either be an integral component of the cart or separate units that are attached to it. If separate, the attachment can be either permanent or removable.
The teeth project horizontally outwardly from the front and rear ends of the carts and are spaced apart from each other in a fork-like or sawtooth configuration. In the preferred embodiment, the front and rear teeth are offset from one another, so that the front teeth of any one cart can be intermeshed with the opposed rear teeth of another cart. When the teeth are intermeshed, two or more carts can be pushed from the rear as one unit. The intermeshing of the teeth prevent the carts from moving out of alignment with each other when being pushed. Such intermeshing teeth can be alternatively described as xe2x80x9cinterlocking fingers.xe2x80x9d
The intermeshing is accomplished by simply pushing the front set of teeth of one cart into the rear set of teeth of a cart in front of it. In reverse, two or more carts can be unmeshed, or disengaged, by simply pulling them apart.
The present invention results in a marked increase in efficiency, allowing two or more carts to be pushed at once. Also, the intermeshing and disengaging processes are fast and do not require the person pushing to either bend down or use any type of time consuming, mechanical, coupling device to link the carts together.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the front and rear teeth are not offset from each other, but rather the carts themselves can be offset so that the teeth intermesh. Such alternative embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 5.